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Clock counting down days until 2012 London Olympics stuck on 500th day [Updated]

March 15, 2011 | 9:10
am

The 2012 London Olympics are still 500 days away, but the clock counting down those days has already stopped.

Less than 24 hours after the unveiling of a steel clock -- standing at 27 feet high and 16 feet wide -- in Trafalgar Square to count down the remaining days to the start of the Games, it has stopped working at 500 days, 7 hours, 6 minutes, 56 seconds.

[Updated at 12:12 p.m.: The clock has been fixed and restarted after being stopped for several hours.]

Omega, the Olympic sponsor that made the clock, told the Associated Press: "We are very disappointed that it has stopped working. It's obviously a technical fault, and we've got people working on it now."

The malfunctioning clock was not the only Olympics glitch to occur Tuesday. Just hours after tickets went on sale for the Games, fans with Visa cards -- the only card that can be used to purchase tickets -- that expire before the end of August were unable to process their orders.

"It is an issue with Visa rather than the website or our systems," London 2012 officials said.

Fans have until April 26 to apply online for the 6.6 million tickets on sale.